KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob allegedly downplaying the proposal by the National Recovery Council (NRC) to reopen the country’s international borders by March 1 is not a power play by the prime minister, according to political analysts.
In fact, he would be the last person to attempt to discredit former prime minister and NRC chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, told The Vibes that the Bera MP survives politically to a large extent on Bersatu president Muhyiddin’s support, since Umno has drifted increasingly away from him.
“Umno mainstream factions have been vocal in criticising some of the government’s policies, especially financial policies.
“Ismail Sabri has also been effectively excluded from campaigning in Melaka and now in Johor, such that he could not take credit in the huge wins,” he said this based on his observations.
Last Tuesday, Muhyiddin announced that NRC had recommended to the government to fully reopen the country’s international borders as early as March 1, with travellers not required to undergo mandatory quarantine.
He said the council is of the opinion that the borders should be fully opened in the near future to assist with Malaysia’s economic recovery.
The NRC comprises International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Education Minister Datuk Radzi Jidin and industry experts in the likes of SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang, Universiti Malaya Medical Centre Covid-19 Task Force chair Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Star Media Group adviser Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, and Capital A chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
Medical experts have also concurred that reopening of borders is inevitable and fitting as the world is inching to an endemic stage and towards living sustainably amid the Covid-19 virus.
Following Muhyiddin’s announcement, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the recommendation needs to be studied by relevant ministries and government departments.
Hishammuddin said the issue would not be an easy one as it involved numerous ministries and needed to be discussed by the cabinet before a final decision could be made.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri last Friday said the cabinet had yet to discuss the NRC’s proposal to reopen the country’s borders by the recommended date.
So far, the Umno vice-president said the Health Ministry (MoH) had not provided cabinet with feedback on the proposal for evaluation.
Stressing the importance to strike a balance between wanting to protect the tourism industry and the people’s health, he said MoH will look into it in detail and propose to the cabinet on the next step.
“As of today, our borders are still closed…there’s no discussion yet to reopen.”
The contradictory statements by Putrajaya and the government advisory body had sparked questions of whether the cabinet and the NRC were in tandem, and even communicated with each other, or was it an indicator of future back-and-forth between government heads over policy decisions.
However, Oh said Ismail Sabri and his administration are opting to err on the side of caution to adopt a wait-and-see approach when it comes to this matter.
“This is especially so when internationally, there is a mix of countries which either further open their borders despite mounting Covid-19 cases or shutting them down again in fear of Covid-19 variant menace.
Sharing the same sentiments is Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia assoc Prof Kartini Aboo Talib.
Rather than seeing it as a strategic political manoeuvre by Ismail Sabri, Kartini said it is appropriate for the prime minister to not be definitive until the proposal gets endorsed.
“Muhyiddin’s proposal has to be evaluated by experts and discussed with the technical committees consisting of several other ministries and agencies to examine the proposal.
“Written feedback will be gathered from these committee members and if endorsed by the committee, another process will be prepared for the ministers to discuss in the cabinet meeting.
“Therefore, it has to be in the order it was received,” said the deputy director of UKM’s Institute of Ethnic Studies.
Meanwhile, Kang, who is NRC’s industry expert, said there is no political significance attached to the whole borders reopening imbroglio.
Speaking to The Vibes, he said the council’s duty is only to table the proposal but not to decide on the matter.
“There is no politics involved. There are procedures that we need to follow.
“Whatever the decision is, it will have to come from the cabinet. It cannot come from any other councils because councils can only propose.”
He added that relevant ministries and agencies must be ready to reopen the borders and it would take them time to prepare the proposal paper for the approval of the cabinet.
“Khairy had promised that he will have a meeting with the National Security Council and relevant ministries to come up with a paper for cabinet approval in February.
“Whether it will be able to meet the date proposed (March 1), nobody knows, because of the surge in Covid-19 cases.
“It might be slightly delayed, but we will definitely reopen the borders.”
Separately, several council members declined to comment, saying the matter that needed to be said had been announced by Muhyiddin in the press conference last Tuesday. – The Vibes, February 19, 2022
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